According to the author, support "for a united Europe is strongly felt in various mileus today. It is necessary to distinguish where this need is upheld on a merely material and pragmatic level from those situations in which the issue is posited at a higher level, emphasising spiritual and traditional values." Given the huge attention that the idea of a united Europe has attracted during the last few decades, this chapter should be of interest to a great many people. During the period in which this book was written, Europe was entrenched in the Cold War and firmly divided between the superpowers of the USA and USSR. Evola, therefore, believes that - despite its decidedly economic agenda - the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) was a logical development. Evola then pours scorn upon the ideas of Jean Thiriart who, during his lifetime, sought to create a European empire of more than 400 million people. Thiriart arrived at this figure by including the populations of Eastern Europe, which at that time were under Soviet control. According to Evola, the fact that the communist economies of Russia and China have an influence upon the outcome of any militaristic strategy renders the whole plan obsolete. The solution, says Evola, is firstly to withdraw from the United Nations (UN) - which, perhaps, is easier said than done - and then to reject the Soviet Union as much as America. Again, we are talking about the situation which existed during the period in which Evola wrote the book. Today, of course, we find ourselves on the verge of a one world government controlled solely by the USA and its closest allies. So how, exactly, does Evola propose that a united Europe be achieved in a profoundly Traditional sense?

The way ahead must rely upon a completely organic strategy. Not a nationalistic myth orchestrated by fascists, but something "which would generate a unitary impulse and an elan that in European history - let us admit it - finds scant antecedents." Indeed, it is undoubtedly a fact that the history of Europe is one of division and conflict. Evola continues: "What should be excluded is nationalism (with its monstrous appendix, namely imperialism) and chauvinism - in other words, every fanatical absolutisation of a particular unit." Therefore the future European empire must replace the obsessive petty-nationalism which has plagued our beleagured continent for so many centuries. In fact as we have already seen, the very idea in which both "unity and multiplicity" were nurtured did previously exist in the medieval period. The empire was a transcendental concept which refused to become involved in the political realm, concentrating its efforts upon the representation of an ultimately spiritual power and authority. It was a dynamic form of organic federalism; a flowing stream in which all fish were happy to be swimming in the same direction. Whilst nationalism always results in fragmentation, the coming imperium must lead to a unitary order of solidarity: "the integration and consolidation of every single nation as a hierarchical, united, and well-differentiated whole. The nature of the parts should reflect the nature of the whole." Evola believes that a stable centre will result in the increase of regional, linguistic and cultural diversity at the grass roots. Unlike the present democratic EC infrastructure which is centred in Maastricht, however, Evola’s model of European unity relies upon authority from above rather than from below. Democracy itself, he believes, should be erased from the face of Europe. A new focus or point of reference must also come into being, one which, in previous centuries, was represented by the monarchy. It must be spiritual in nature, too, although, unlike Christian Europe during the Middle Ages, it should both permeate and involve all nations. It must also, he contends, exclude non-Europeans, although in the present day and age there is a lot to be said for the ideas of Alexander Dugin and his belief in a Eurasian alliance. The new centre, on the other hand, cannot be constructed purely around what is commonly known as "European culture": Goethe, Von Humboldt, and all the other representatives of a sophisticated culture should be paid high honours, but it would be absurd to believe that their world could supply an arousing and animating strength to the forces and revolutionary elites that are struggling to unify Europe: their contribution belongs to the mere domain of a dignified "representation," with an essentially "historical character." On the contrary, Europe also has much to be ashamed of. And neither is the solution designed to create a European bloc to rival America, Africa or Asia, because Europe itself has influenced these continents to such as extent that it now risks becoming part of a globalised world. A positive manifestation of European unity was demonstrated by the various regions from which the soldiers of the SS were recruited during the Second World War, although it remains a great pity that their efforts were so misguided and self-destructive. Evola warns us that "a European action must proceed in parallel with the rebirth and the revolutionary-conservative reorganisation of the individual European countries: but to recognise this also means to acknowledge the disheartening magnitude of the task ahead."

The road to the new European imperium, Evola says, must be undertaken by two groups. Firstly, he proposes that we should attract the remaining families of the ancient nobility: "who are valuable not only because of the name they carry, but also because of who they are, because of their personality." Secondly, it is necessary to create a warrior caste: "These men harbour a healthy intolerance for any rhetoric; an indifference towards intellectualism and politicians’ gimmicks; a realism of a higher type; the propensity for impersonal activity; and the capability of a precise and resolute commitment." Evola accepts that such an Order presently remains leaderless, but the removal of the political class and a defiance of the modern world is an imperative. He concludes his work by saying that we now require men who, "in spite of it all, still stand upright among so many ruins."

Troy Southgate submitted this work to PRAVDA.Ru

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